23 pastry cream recipes

Classic French creme patissiere made with egg yolks, sugar, milk, and vanilla. The essential pastry cream for tarts, eclairs, cream puffs, and fruit desserts.

Caramel-orange Bûche de Noël assembly with Grand Marnier buttercream, almond sponge, and pastry cream filling. The classic French Yule log cake for Christmas.

Single-crust pastry pie shell with margarine, blind-baked at high heat until golden in 10 minutes. A basic flaky pastry that works as a base for cream pies, custards, and fruit fillings.

Golden amaranth shortcake made with amaranth flour, whole wheat pastry flour, tahini, and almonds, topped with crushed pineapple and a blended tofu cream. Dairy-free and honey-sweetened.

Homemade fried elephant ears: sour-cream and buttermilk dough rolled thin, slit, fried golden, then tumbled in cinnamon sugar. State fair pastry made in your own kitchen.

Traditional Yorkshire bilberry pie from Haworth with wild bilberries mixed into baked apple pulp, wrapped in pastry and baked until golden. Served with cream.

Oatmeal pie crust adds rolled oats to a classic shortening pastry for nutty flavor and a sturdier base. Holds up to wet fillings like pumpkin, custard, or cream pies without going soggy.